The art was nice but I wasn't really a fan of the story. The first part of the comic felt like a completely different story than the latter part. Also, this volume ended super abruptly... Yeah nah. I'm not so sure what to think of the story honestly, the parts in between that kind of told the history of what happened were interesting but I soon (hehe) found myself skimming some parts.

I really enjoyed the way the author showed the possibilities in a not to distant future. I enjoy post apocalypse/dystopian style novels and thought this was well done.

I enjoyed this sci-fi/fantasy book and thought the author did a good job of looking at the near future and possible changes from climate change and environmental issues. I enjoyed the artwork as well.

Soon is a strange mix of world-building and intimate family drama. There is a lot of exposition in Soon that is framed through the device of Youri explaining to his mother Simone the things he has learned about the history of the world. Set in a post-collapse future where humanity’s population is smaller than that of today as a result of disasters both natural and manmade. Reading Youri recount these events in a time of Covid-19 and Extinction Rebellion feels uncomfortably possible.

The art in Soon is somewhat reminiscent of Titan (one of my favourite books of the year) in that the colour palette is no more than four or five colours depending on what “zone” the characters are in. It also uses the same technique of colouring the speech bubbles of characters. As with Titan, there were occasions where the change in speech bubble colour made it difficult to decipher who was speaking. Some of the explanatory diagrams, while beautiful, were occasionally difficult to follow. The character and world design are magnificent. The simplistic lines convey so much nuanced emotion in the faces of the characters.

Youri is heart-broken. He is about to be abandoned by his mother. The trip that he and Simone go on is about making lasting memories and as a way of Simone justifying the purpose mission not only to Youri but to a sceptical public. One of the conversations that takes place that particular hit home with me is if the resources spent on a risky space mission could be better spent on feeding the hungry. Soon is a coming of age story about a boy who is sure he doesn’t want his mother to leave him but not much else. The trip opens up his eyes to the dangerous reality of the world, the avarice of humanity, and, the things we have to give up to reach the goals we have set for ourselves.

Soon verges at points at being preachy but it is redeemed by a wonderfully portrayed mother and son relationship. The dialogue between Youri and Simone brims with old arguments, recriminations, love, and, the reaching need each of the characters has for the others. For Simone, it for Youri to truly understand and accept why she is leaving and for Youri, it is for Simone not to go.

I think at points Soon gets the balance between human drama and backstory wrong. The book truly sings when Youri and Simone are on the same page not saying all the things they genuinely want to say. The diagrams explaining all the history of the world can cause the pace of the story to slow. However, all in all, this is a superb sci-fi story, and I am eagerly awaiting v2.

This is such an interesting and timely graphic novel. It is a graphic novel that brings to life a future of a world that seems so far away but also too close for comfort. Soon gives a plausible history of the near future and even has striking similarities to the current state of the world.

I found the artwork to be very nice and the story to be quite intriguing, especially the history portions. I will most likely continue this series and I do not often carry on with series.

Disclaimer: received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really like the premise & art style in this one - it reminded me of my recent reading experience with "Central Station" by Lavie Tidhar - and the "retro-futurism sense of wonder at sci-fi" it left me with. At it's heart it seems to be the story of a somewhat estranged mother and son amidst a world whose climate has been wracked by the ravages of civilisation and that still searches for meaning among the stars even a hundred years down the road from now. I appreciated the world building the most and the wonderful use of different shades and tones for different locations. The subject matter does delve a touch into political/global implications as well. Not exactly light reading, but the way it's presented I couldn't exactly think of it as heavy reading either. Definitely interested in the next issue!

Half of this was a decent narrative of the Apollo programme and the science over the centuries that led to it. As to what we were actually here for, it was rubbish of the tallest order. Not worth the time.

This was a wonderful little read. It was insightful, clever, and beautifully illustrated.
It's a little depressing, considering it discusses the potential future of humanity and our planet, but it was done extremely well.

This short graphic novel focuses on humanity and space through the ages, and why the latter is necessary to giving us the lives we have now. And also why it may be our downfall.

Space and technology has let humanity have everything we want at the touch of a button, with seemingly no consequences, regardless of the harm to the environment and the economy. We are entirely focused on instant connection, instant ordering, and connecting with the world at the press of a button on our smartphones.

We are shown a world split into zones, one of which belongs to nature and is not fit for humans. We get to see into the radiation filled zones that are uninhabitable, and the glimpse of the future where sacrifices must continue to be made, for the benefit of humanity, no matter who agrees with it or who wants things to be as they were. As devastating as it turned out to be.

The illustrations for the 'brief history of space' are stunning and flow so nicely.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and would absolutely recommend it.

Soon Vol 1 was an interesting read. This story resolves around climate change, capitalism and what is happening in the world today. I enjoyed the colour pallet and the atmosphere unfortunately I found it hard to engage in reading it as it was not character driven and was more about data information than anything else. Great for someone else, just not me.

This post apocalyptic story is set not too far into the future, it's packed with interesting data about climate change and capitalism and harsh views of their present. At first it reminded me a little bit of the film Blade Runner because of the blue-ish grey tones used to show the coldness of the whole atmosphere of the book and also just like blade runner there are parts that are more desert yellow dry and somehow more vibrant. But that's about it, nothing is exiting other than the colour pallet or the unique art of the author.
The fist book normally sets the story and the tone introduce the characters and the relationships... This book is not character driven, which was a little harder for me to read that's why it took me a week to finish it. I like idea of the book but I didn't find it engaging and I think I won't continue with the series, I'm sure there are public for this but just not me. There's plenty of of text explaining the set up, but I just didn't quite get where was the story going, Unfortunately I couldn't care for the characters either, well I did I like the mother, wish the following books focuses on her.

4/5 climate change apocalypse, pandemics, world wars and disgusting capitalistic exploitation. This graphic novel shows a dark very strict future of humanity after the climate kollaps.

The art style is unique. Very dark, missing details in faces and fitting the story. My favourite parts are the history of the space race and humanity told as a bedtime story. Very well done and fluently going from historical facts into a fictional future.

The story in between with Simone, Yuri, Andrea and Anh is missing something for me, but is still good in showing the state of humanity and the love for scientific discovery. I am missing some character introduction and development. Yuri is not a particulary likable character, but it fits. He is bitter, childish and reckless. His mother Simone is the one I love and Andrea as well. I would have loved to hear more about them, the state of society and their views. The last story of Yuri and Anh (is that her name) was very rushed and had so much potential if continued, but was sadly not explored more. Simply this story is hard-sci fi and missing the character focus we see in other modern sci-fi.

This novel is dark, serious and should be taken as a warning. As someone who studied environmental sciences I can see the aspects of this that could come true in the next decades and terrifying as well as fascinating to see the consequences played out.


I was gifted a copy by NeTGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received a copy of SOON V1 through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This review is based on my opinions and on the version of the SOON V1 received through NetGalley, and does not reflect the opinions of other parties.

**

Sometimes, you just know. You turn the page and you think, yes, I love this. This was my experience with SOON V1: I was intrigued by the cover, I downloaded the copy for review, I got to the first page and knew that I loved this book.
I love how retro and clean and honest the art is. I love the storytelling, I’m fascinated by the dilemma the story presents (and what an absolute kick in the teeth the environmental message is), and the characters are interesting people.

And yet for all of that, I’m not sure I can confidently tell you what SOON V1 is about.

SOON V1 is a heavy read. (Context: my partner thinks I love reading books that make me feel miserable and he's not wrong) The book is set in 2151 and named for the predecessor to a central theme of the story: the launch of SOON 2, a one-way space mission. But SOON V1 isn’t really about that. It’s about Soon’s commander, Simone, and her trip around the world with her son. It’s about her hope for humanity, and her role in inspiring a despairing world. It’s about Yuri’s bitterness and broken relationship with his mother, even as we see flashes of a young Yuri proudly reciting his textbook history knowledge of how humanity destroyed the environment. And it’s Yuri’s coming of age story across their trip together.
It’s a beautiful and ambitious piece, but I found the scale of so much sheer content at once difficult to manage, and I started getting confused by what was happening towards the end of the book. I found the book difficult to re-read in one sitting, and I know I’ll be re-reading it again to try and better understand the message.

The art is beautiful throughout the book. The world is complex and developed, and the relationships in the story come with real problems.

My biggest complaint with SOON V1 is there were some points where Yuri comes across as much more immature than I thought he would be at the start. I assumed Yuri to be a young adult given his profession (and presumably qualifications), but while his naivety comes across clearly, towards the end of the book he crosses the line into behaving like a reckless teenager with little regard to his caretakers: it’s not poor writing, but it was odd and made him much more unlikable and I started to lose interest in his story - I wanted to see more about Simone instead.

SOON V1 is an excellent graphic novel to read if you’re in the mood for something beautiful, serious, complex and confronting. It’s absolutely not something I would recommend if you want some light reading - if so, do yourself a favour and save SOON V1 for a couple of quiet hours to appreciate the story.

Thank you so much to net galley for sending me a copy of this comic. I was expecting to really fall in love with it but I ended up not liking it as much as I thought

I have a few simple thoughts for this graphic novel.
The first is that I really did love the coloration and the art style. It fit the world that was created and I really enjoyed the atmosphere I got to be in as I read it.
In regards to characters, each was very complex, and I appreciated the way that each character was presented both with their actions and their dialogue.
The commentary on society was interesting, but I felt that some of the really beautiful historical illustrations were hard to cling to because they felt more like a lecture than like a part of the story. That may just be a personal opinion, though.
Near the beginning, I was thinking this would be an interesting graphic novel choice for younger individuals, with the things it taught you about the world and the questions it raised without answering them, but when the characters began experimenting with sex, it felt a little out of place? Don't get me wrong. I love a good sex scene. It just felt very abrupt, and though the character's motivations made sense, I wasn't invested in those panels at all.
If you like sci fi and climate discussions and graphic novels that grapple with real world issues, than this is a book for you.

Not one for me. I didnt like the artwork or the colouring and the story was difficult to follow. I also thought it was a bit preachy and very wordy for a graphic novel.

O tema abordado na história me agrada bastante e cumpre com a expectativa, a junção de distopia com ficção científica é formidável. Um futuro apocalíptico e distópico, criticas ambientais e sociais, e as explicações científicas embasam e dão mais profundidade a história e aos personagens. As cores e a arte chamam a atenção e se sobressaem em relação ao enredo. Ansiosa pelo desenrolar do próximo volume.

Soon is a beautifully immersive graphic novel. I loved the monochromatic art style and the dystopian themes. The relationship between Simone and Yuri is explored well as they adapt to how their lives are going to change. I also enjoyed the sections between chapters which explained the events that led up to the present day some of which seemed eerily prophetic.

The only thing that let the story down was the relationship between Ann and Yuri. I felt it added nothing to the story as the inclusion of the sex scenes seemed rather disjointed.

Overall, a compelling read and I look forward to the next installment.

Thanks to NetGalley and Europe Comics for the ARC.

Beautiful art style and setting all around, made the reading experience very immersive and filled with wonder in this New world. The writing style felt a bit preachy at times but overall complimented this new version of the world. I adored it and hope to see more from this world and these authors.

A really great read with some worryingly current topics.
The artwork was beautiful and I loved the dystopian themes. I particularly enjoyed the parts that were set between the main storyline as they provided an extra informative layer to the story.
My only gripe was the spontaneous introduction of sex. I have absolutely nothing against sex scenes, but it just appeared so abstract and out of place.

This made for a great read and I'd encourage graphic novel fans to give it a try!

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This was a good read with a very current topic and great artwork (loved the colour scheme).

‘Soon’ picks up the popular ecocritical/post apocalyptic theme and explores a society where nature has taken back control and survivors live in different urban zones. Unfortunately the story jumps around a little so that it is sometimes hard to follow where the plot is going. The general premise and the beautiful art, however, make it a captivating read.